US stocks rose on Thursday, with consumer companies including Home Depot, Walt Disney and Wal-Mart Stores leading the gains following better-than-expected readings from the housing and retail sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 50.63 points (0.49%) to 10,320.10, marking its third-straight gain. Home Depot jumped 74 cents (2.6%) to $29.41, as the home-improvement retailer was boosted by an unexpected increase in pending-home sales as well as a bigger-than-expected rise in retailers' same-store sales. Walt Disney and Wal-Mart also benefited from improved sentiment around consumer stocks following the reports, with Disney rising 40 cents (1.2%) to $33.91, and Wal-Mart up 56 cents (1.1%) to $51.76.

European stocks finished mixed on Thursday, with some markets eking out small gains after another string of positive US economic data. The Stoxx Europe 600 index ended unchanged at 258.18 points. It rallied 2.7% on Wednesday, when investors welcomed strong manufacturing data from the US and China. The German DAX index finished flat at 6,083.85 points. Markets in France and the UK managed to post small gains, as US data showed an increase in pending home sales, a rise in factory orders, and a decline in weekly jobless claims. The French CAC-40 index rose 0.2% to 3,631.43 points and the UK's FTSE 100 index gained 0.1% to 5,371.04 points.